When the public donates to a charity through a Big Give campaign, we ask funders (philanthropists, foundations or corporates) to match that donation.

So £50 from a member of the public, becomes £100 for a good cause.

 

Pledge Model

This is where it all began. The Pledge model offers supporters of participating charities the opportunity to double their donations with match funding provided by the charities’ pledgers and Big Give’s Champions. This innovative way of match funding ensures that charities can increase their resilience by diversifying their income streams.

Here’s how it works. To start with, charities apply to join us with some match funders of their own — their Pledgers. Then, our Big Give Champions get the chance to add funds to that pot. All of that together makes up the charity’s total match funding pot. When it’s time for the campaign to go live, that pot is used to match public donations — first from the charity’s Pledgers, followed by the Champions. 

1:1 Model

In the 1:1 model, charities receive a set amount of money from a funder that matches all of their donations. This is generosity multiplying at its simplest — a funder matches every donation made to the campaign, up to an agreed amount.

Charities complete an application form, and then match funders will have the chance to add funds to support the campaign. That total makes up the charity’s match funding pot. Once the campaign is live, the charities’ match funding pot can be unlocked through online donations raised during the campaign

Collective Model

The Collective model is where the total match funding pot is shared between charities. By pooling match funds, every charity in the campaign can benefit from having their donations matched.

Charities complete an application form, and then Big Give Champions will have the chance to add match funds to the general campaign, ready to be shared among all the charities taking part. Once the campaign is live, the total match funding pot is used to match all charities’ online donations until it’s been exhausted.

Multi Model

The Multi-model is a new way to fund themed campaigns. It’s all about allowing charities to choose between either the 1:1 or pledge model, depending on their fundraising goals. Charities that follow the 1:1 model will have all of their match funding provided by a Big Give Champion partner up to an agreed amount. Charities who follow the pledge model will have a combined match funding pot made up of pledges, which they’ve secured, and Champion funds.

Charities apply to join the campaign and choose which model they’d like to go with. For the 1:1 model, all match funding is provided by Big Give’s Champions (up to £10,000). For the pledge model, the application involves charities’ sourcing some of their own match funders (Pledgers). The deal is, whatever a charity raises in pledges, they can recieve up to the same amount (up to £50,000) of additional match funding from a Big Give Champion. The combined amount of pledges and Champion funds make up the charities’ match funding pot. Once the campaign goes live, the match funding pot is used to double public donations — first from the charity’s Pledgers (if following the pledge model), followed by the Champions.

A Pledger can be anyone in a charity’s network — trustees, foundations, trusts, companies, volunteers, high-net-worth individuals and others — who commit match funds to a charity to support their match funding campaign. These pledges count as promises of funding and can be unlocked by a charity through online donations raised during a campaign. Pledgers are sourced and relationships managed by the Charity.

Champions are Big Give’s partners. A Champion can include high-net-worth individuals, foundations, philanthropists, trusts, statutory bodies, companies and corporations. A Champion will commit match funds to support one or multiple charities in a given match funding campaign. A charity can unlock the Champions’ match funds through online donations raised during a campaign. Champions are sourced and relationships managed by Big Give.

Big Give completes due diligence on all charity applications and works with our partner Champions to ensure that selected charities meet our criteria. We also conduct due diligence on pledges secured by charities to ensure that these have been paid after the campaign ends. The public has made donations on the basis that they are being matched, so we ensure that all match funds are received to honour this commitment to donors.

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